1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to calculating and reporting of fuel consumption of motor vehicles, and more particularly to fuel pumps having the ability to calculate and report fuel consumption of patrons. It is anticipated that commercial fuel retailing stations will be the primary practitioners of the invention, thereby offering a new service to the motoring public. Of course, private and semi-private dispensers of fuels, such as marinas, private airports, communally owned facilities such as driving clubs and race tracks, and other facilities of sufficiently large scale to justify provision of electrically operated computerized fuel pumps, such as fleet operators, will benefit from the invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Calculation of fuel consumption, particularly as a function of distance traveled, has long been of great interest to operators of motor vehicles. Although interest may be in part academic, knowledge of fuel consumption rates relative to distance traveled has practical advantages. This information may assist in establishing consumers' budgets, selecting economical vehicles, monitoring engine and drive train condition by a motor vehicle operator, and on a macro level, enabling estimates or prediction of future consumption for government and the fuel supply industry, among others.
Calculation of fuel mileage is simply performed. The quantity of fuel required to refill a fuel tank, divided by the distance traveled, yields a fuel economy value. In the United States, this value is typically expressed as miles traveled per gallon of fuel consumed, or miles per gallon. Fuel mileage has a related counterpart employed in many foreign countries, that being fuel consumption. The distinction is that the result is typically stated in fuel quantity consumed in an arbitrarily selected distance. In much of the industrialized world, liters of fuel consumed for every hundred kilometers of driving is a widespread measure of fuel consumption.
Regardless of the specific convention employed to quantify the rate of fuel consumption, only two parameters must be known to derive a useful result, those being fuel quantity and distance (or in some fields, time). Rough estimates can in some cases be made by purely mental calculation, although for most people, this procedure threatens both accuracy and precision. The calculation can be made with writing tools such as paper and pencil, but this may be annoyingly time consuming and confusing.
The desired value is readily calculated with a pocket calculator, a personal computer, or the like. However, motorists in particular may not remember to keep a calculator at hand. Computers provided in motor vehicles are not equipped to accept inputs from the driver in order to enjoy accurate valuation of quantity of fuel purchased.
It would be possible to estimate fuel consumption values by monitoring instantaneous usage of fuel and summing the result. This approach is taken in U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,163, issued to Paul J. Ebaugh et al. on Apr. 12, 1994. An on board data processing device receives inputs enabling calculation of, among other characteristics of vehicle operation, fuel consumption. However, this system is carried aboard the vehicle, whereas the system of the present invention is incorporated into a fuel dispensing pump. Also, the device of Ebaugh et al. is fully automatic, whereas the present invention provides and requires a user input device, such as a keypad, to enter parameters into the calculating apparatus. In a further distinction, the present invention provides a printer at the point of fueling. By contrast, in Ebaugh et al., printing, if performed at all, is accomplished remotely from the onboard calculating device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,652, issued to Jack Steiner, describes a trip recorder which records vehicle operating parameters. As in the case of Ebaugh et al., the system is on board the vehicle. The device of Steiner provides real time information in a continuing stream. By contrast, the apparatus of the present invention is located outside the vehicle, requires manual entry of a parameter critical to calculation of specific fuel consumption, and prints out the results of the calculation rather than transmitting a constant stream of data.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,644, issued to Jurgen Adams et al. on Sep. 3, 1985, U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,205, issued to Claude F. Ricard on Mar. 5, 1991, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,397, issued to Ileana D. Barns-Slavin on Dec. 10, 1991, all illustrate on board data devices for monitoring operation parameters of a motor vehicle. These devices differ from the present invention in at least the same ways as those discussed relative to Ebaugh et al. and Steiner, and further may have no provision for calculating or displaying specific fuel consumption.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.